Edelman had been serving as undersecretary for policy since last August under a recess appointment, but his term would have expired next January, when the next Congress takes office.

Edelman, a career foreign service officer, previously served as U.S. ambassador to Turkey from 2003 to 2005 and as principal deputy assistant to the vice president for national security affairs from 2001 to 2003.

As undersecretary of defense for policy, Edelman is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's chief policy adviser on myriad issues, including the global war on terror.

In that capacity, Edelman has been active in advancing the U.S. National Strategy for Victory in Iraq. The goal of that strategy, he told a Council on Foreign Relations roundtable Dec. 1 following its release, is to create a secure, democratic country free of terrorists.

"I think we need to be very clear: Iraq's future will either embolden terrorists and expand their reach and ability to re-establish a caliphate, or it will deal them a crippling blow. For us, failure in Iraq is just not an option," Edelman told the group.

"The overall objective of our Iraq strategy is to help the Iraqi people build a new Iraq with a constitutional, representative government that respects civil rights and has security forces sufficient to maintain domestic order and to keep Iraq from becoming a safe haven for terrorists," he said.